Clare Comstock, LCSW, SEP

As a therapist, I have found that there is always something trying to emerge in the symptoms we might experience. Something needing attention, or expression, or healing. You may experience problems or symptoms as disruptive thought patterns, emotional overwhelm, physical sensations, repetitive behaviors, disturbing dreams, flashbacks, or in other ways. For me, therapy is firstly a process of observing ourselves from a wider perspective. Witnessing so as to see what is needed. Noticing and naming the thoughts, emotions, and body sensations that are present so they can get worked through and unstuck; moving us back into the flow of life again. Sometimes there is a need to unhook from cultural conditioning or early childhood patterns that may be blocking our current functioning. Or a traumatic experience has disrupted our lives. Therapy is also about creating safe, supported ways to go into what is there, rather than continuing to use the protective mechanisms and survival strategies we have developed. Often, the survival strategies themselves become the problem. I find that tracking what is going on in the body, in addition to working with thoughts, emotions, and dreams, can be helpful. Facilitating the down-regulation of the nervous system helps to calm our emotions, slow our thoughts, and allow us to be present. We can respond and relate to what is there rather than react to it. Shifts can happen. Possibilities can emerge.